The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Chris is ready to fight

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

After his last fight, the fun DAZN pair of AK and Barak stop by the show to argue with Chris about what to make of Gervonta Davis, where he ranks as a pound-for-pound boxer, and who they think will come out on top between Devin Haney and George Kambosos. Later, Stephen Fulton, the unified super bantamweight world champion joins the show to talk about his upcoming fight with Daniel Roman. Finally, George Kambosos himself drops in to preview his fight with Devin Haney. #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, well, I love shows where I'm going to fight. And I feel like I'm going to fight on this show. Two of my favorite guys to fight with in the box. boxing space are Ack and Barack, the co-hosts of the DeZone Boxing show. You can see that every weekday over at DeZone on the app, Dazen.com as well. Fellas, I feel like we're going to get into it today. What do you think? Are we going to go back and forth a little bit here? I don't know, because I saw how excited you were at the Barclay Center from Giovante Davis's

performances, so maybe we won't fight so much. I don't know. Do you like to lose? If you like to lose, let's go. Oh, wow. See, you guys are like, oh for eternity against me in these times. Yeah, okay. Okay. We'll carry on. We'll carry on. That's delusional.

That's delusional. That's delusional like Roley after the fight. He needs a rematch. Well, yeah, we'll talk about Roley Romero after that fight. That was bizarre as well. I do want to talk about Jervante Davis, who defended his secondary title at 135 over the weekend, knocking out Roli Romero in the sixth round. And, Ak, let's start there.

Just your overall thoughts on Gervantes' performance. Well, I mean, going into that fight, I expected Javante to knock Roley out at some point throughout that fight. I think in the first couple of rounds, Roli made it a little more uncomfortable than I expected. I felt that Javante will kind of take control right away. But then after watching the first round, I understood where he had to take his time. So overall, it's what I expected, dramatic ending. Javante Davis, regardless of the level of opponent that you think Roli is. He's still holding up to his end of the bargain and being a knockout artist and he took care of business.

Phenomenal performance, but I do understand the folks that say, but who is Roe? He was a threat, a guy that can punch, and he got knocked out. Barack, what do you think? I think we've seen an experienced guy who went in there through over 100 punches that only landed 22 punches, 19% and he got knocked out. You know, people are giving him a little bit more credit than he probably deserves. I give him credit only because he went in there and actually tried to execute and he wasn't scared of Javante Davis's power. But other than that, no, you landed 3.6 punches per round, average, on average. I mean, what kind of fight is that?

You know, so I just think Javonte just didn't go anywhere. He stayed, he was a plateau because this fight has nothing to do with improving his career. It was just for bragging rights for somebody who talked his way into a fight. So, Barack, I take it. You don't believe that Rolanda Romero is the number two lightweight in the world. No, no one believes that. No one believes that except his promoter, which his promoter should believe he's the number two. You know, why?

Because his promoter has the number one guy in his mind. You understand what I'm saying? So, no, of course Roli is not the number two guy. That's just, you know, that's him promoting. That's making sure that Roli stays relevant, him saying that. He doesn't believe that. Leonard doesn't believe that. Well, I mean, Leder might believe that.

Like, Leonard says some wackadoo things sometimes. And I'm not sure what he believes, Ock. I think he, you know, I think he, like he's, you know, like, Roley clearly has some power. Like, I'll give him that. I don't know. He has power, but, I mean. He's got a little pop.

I mean, he didn't knock out, he didn't knock out Marineez. He didn't knock out Javante Davis. so he knocked out lesser tier guys. A lot of guys show power with lesser tier guys. Like Triple G showed a whole lot of power. He does have power. His punches hurt. But when he got to a certain level,

he wasn't knocking guys out anymore. So at that championship level, maybe Romero is not knocking guys out. We don't know. Believe me, I'm not defending Roly Remem. I'm pointing out, he wasn't, I guess, the stumble bum

that a lot of people thought he was going to be coming into that fight. He lasted, whatever. I mean, look, I don't think it's a quality win either. But like, Ak, did Gervante show you anything you haven't seen before? Because, look, I thought he did a nice job being patient. You know, he set some traps there throughout the course of the fight and finally got Rolly to kind of lunge in at an opportune moment. And he landed that shot.

Yeah, I mean, that's what great fighters do, like great boxers, so to speak. They have to make adjustments. And he showed me what he's shown me for the last few years. And he's one of the best fighters in the world, which is why he's still on our pound for pound list. Here we go. Look, when you, he executed the perfect shot. He timed it.

But earlier on, look, regardless of what he said about Roli not being awkward, he is awkward to some degree, but inexperienced, the barrage point, very inexperienced. So once Teng saw that he's going to make some defensive mistakes, he executed. And that's what a good boxer does. He didn't get into a firefight with him. I expect the Tent to do what he did. I'm not surprised. I'm not like, I'm not.

I'm not so thrilled about the performance because he's supposed to do that. Brock, did he show you anything you haven't seen before? No, no, not at all. I already knew that he can box. You know, I already knew that he had speed, power, footwork, and all of that stuff. And he's more so of a boxer than anything.

It's just that he happens to have explosiveness. It happens to be faster than most of the fighters he get in there with. So, no, he didn't show anything. And then when you got a guy who's throwing shots as wide as roly, nah, but he did show that he can take. a shot from a really big guy. You know, he took a couple of shots. It seems like every time Roli would catch him flush,

he would leave a mark. That's how hard the kid probably punches. So he showed that he could take a shot and not get flustered, but stay with the game plan and execute what he wanted to do. And Chris, you know, going into this fight, I'm not sure if you remember it on social media and doing interviews, Tank said it, you know, he made it seem as it.

I know this guy doesn't belong in the ring with him. When he was going, throwing shots at May with the promotions, he was saying, hey, they're making me fight this clown because this is my last fight on the contract. In other words, we, I know he doesn't belong in the ring with me. I know that I'm levels above him, but you know what? I'm gonna knock this guy out, you know, for bragging rights. Like Barack said earlier, so it's not like Javonte was going into this fight.

Oh, I'm going to fight such an amazing fighter and I'm going to prove to the world that I'm, you know, this great. He knew that he was fighting a guy that was, was less experienced than and he would knock him out. So credit to Javante for, you know, kind of the way Loma felt, and this might not be the best comparison, but when Loma fought Riggindow, he said, listen, man, this guy's a smaller guy. Don't give me all the credit in the world.

I knew I was going to be too big for him. So in this case, I knew Tank is like, I knew I was going to be too experienced for this guy. So don't give me all the praise in the world. So I like Tank for that. All right. So let's talk about what will get Tank credit. What will get him that respect. I mean, like you guys, I sat at that press conference on Saturday, and I listened to Leonard

Alibi. Now, I've known Leonard for 20 years. I actually like Leonard personally, and he has done a fantastic job helping to build Davis into this box office star. I mean, I walked right up to Leonard after the press conference and told him he killed it. But when it comes to Tank's place among the elite in boxing, Leonard just lives in an alternative universe. Like to our points, Roly Romero

is not a quality win. A quality win cannot come against a guy. You are a minus 1,000 favorite against. It just can't. And Leonard sat there, as we said, look, and said, Roli was the second best lightweight in the vision. When he said that, I just wanted to pull

my hair out. I mean, in no particular order, Vasily Lomachenko, Devin Haney, and George Camposus are better than Roli Romero. That's just off the top of my head right now. does not have a single quality win on his resume. To your point, Barack, he was,

he should have another loss. I mean, Jackson Marinus beat him a couple of years ago. Ramirez was robbed by the judges. And in boxing, you are what your resume says you are. And Romero does not have the resume to be called an elite fighter. Maybe he'll develop it, but he doesn't have it yet. Now, one thing I wanted to get to here, Leonard believes he knows more about the business of boxing than I do.

And I'm sure he does. But let me just say this. In the 1980s and 90s, boxing, it rivaled like the NFL and NBA for attention. Today, boxing generally draws viewership numbers comparable to MLS and lacrosse. Like, that's just where it is right now with some of these numbers. In 1981, I was looking this up,

Sugar Ray Leonard fought Tommy Hearns on a Wednesday. He fought him on a Wednesday night in 1981. Today, boxing events, They start guys at these ungodly hours on a Saturday in order to avoid competing with anything but infomercials that are out there. The point is, you cannot be a power broker. And I'm directing this at all promoters, by the way, not just Leonard. But you cannot be a power broker in this sport and hold the haughty position that you know exactly what you're doing. Because this sport, which I love, which you guys love, has been in a state of steady decline for,

decades now, and these promoters have played a role in it. Now, let me finish here. Back to Tank. Tank, to me, has to decide what he wants to be. Does he want to be an attraction, or does he want to be a fighter? He can continue down this path. Don't get me wrong, of beating up on whatever overmatched opponents PBC can dig up. Maybe it's Chris Colbert, maybe it's Gary Russell Jr. Maybe he can revive Richard Comey from somewhere, I don't know, and he can make a lot of money doing it. I mean, domestically, Tank is a bigger draw than anyone but Canello, I think, domestically.

Globally, I'd only put AJ and maybe Tyson Fury now ahead of him. Tank is that big. And if that's the road you want to go down, fine. No problem. But you cannot do that and then declare yourself the face of boxing. Tank is going to be 28 years old this fall. He has one quality win. That was five years ago.

I'm almost wrapped here. Five years ago, and that was against Jose Padraza. I'm just on a roll now. Devin Haney is 23 years old. We're going to talk about Devin in a bit. He's going to Australia to fight George Cambosis for the undisputed lightweight championship.

That's a fight tank could have had if he wanted it. But from what I was told, Team Cambosis, from Team Cambosis, he showed no substantive interest in it. That's a legacy fight, and he didn't really want it. That's why I have been saying, guys,

and writing, and now podcasting about it, that Tank needs Ryan Garcia. Ryan Garcia is undefeated. He has exactly as many quality wins as Tank Davis does. If Tank, or if Ryan beats Javier Fortuna in July, he will be available for a fight. Tank, to me, needs to aggressively pursue that fight. He needs to tell his team that a Garcia fight is the only fight he wants before the end of the year, period. it full stop so ock will start with you i mean how much of that do you buy into um and do you believe that tank needs ryan as much as ryan needs tank well i mean a lot to cover there because you

touched on a lot of things so i'm gonna try to touch on a few of them first first i was on a roll man i was just rolling right there not as far as campboza's team saying that they did tank and his team didn't show any interest in that fight i mean i wouldn't need proof of that uh tank has shown interest in fighting the win but tank wasn't going oct tank tank wasn't going to Australian. You know he wasn't going Australia? Yes, but I'm saying that I'm not, I don't know if I believe everything that George Cambosis team says anyway. With that being said, you know, Devin Hayden and his father, they took a different route into this professional game, a lot of freedom. They created a, it created a good relationship

with Eddie where even though he has invested in him, he gave him his blessings to go on and move forward. Tech showed the different route attached himself to Floyd, which helped him in his climb to the top. And first, as far as Nodari, you know, over that. So I think they took two different paths. Now, Tank has been, as you know, has been very vocal about wanting all of those fights. And maybe it took this scare. Maybe, you know, because I'm getting mixed signals. I don't know if he's with, well, May with the promotion or he's not, but maybe those statements scared those guys enough to say, okay, let's give Tank the fights that he wants now because he has the opportunity to walk away from

May with the promotion. And to your point, Chris, he is a major job. And I've seen it firsthand in different major cities in America. This guy can sell. Doesn't necessarily mean he's going to sell tons of pay-per-view because for techs events, it's a little difference. It's more so people want to come out. They want to wear their finest jewelry. They want to wear their finest clothes.

It's like going to a club, going to a party. They need to be in the building. It doesn't mean that he's going to sell a million paper views. But there's a lot to be said in setting a record at the Barclays Center in the biggest gate for a boxing event. and attendance. So I don't think he needs Ryan because there are other big lightweights out there. Like for instance, the win of Cambois and Devin, he's already said that he would love to fight the win of that. That's a huge fight. Now, if you're talking about popularity contest, something that I guess transcends

boxing, part of pop culture. Yes, Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia is the biggest fight to be made in boxing. I know I say it a lot because we're right ahead of the Spence Crawford fight that looks like it's going to be made. But as far as popularity and numbers, revenue, just attention, I think that's the biggest fight. But I wouldn't use that word need. I say he should take that opportunity if it presents itself. Brock, what do you think?

First of all, we're forgetting Lomachenko. The thing about Ryan, you know, I always say that I don't like matchups that have a scapegoat attached to it that has like an excuse attached to it. Ryan, if Tank was to beat Ryan, what are you going to say, Chris? And a lot of guys like you, they're going to say that Ryan was too young. He wasn't ready. He wasn't experienced enough. But if he beats Loma, there's not much room for an excuse.

And that's the fight that we wanted to see happen years ago when Tank was about 22, 23 years old. So I think that's probably the best fight for him to make. make, somebody who's showing that he's back, no shoulder injury, and he's on a war path, killing everybody in front of him. I think that's the fight more so that he needs. Now, it's just that Ryan's a bigger fight. Ryan's a bigger name. He has millions of followers on Instagram, so that kind of makes sense. But one thing I want to say is that if you listen to the new Giovante, the new Giovante is calling out names. He's calling out Devin Haney. He's never done that before. You know why? Because he was under the Floyd Mayweather

tutelage of being a champion being the cash cow that we don't call people out. That blueprint doesn't fit well with Javante Davis because he didn't get a chance like Floyd did to fight all of the big names. And that's the problem. And I just want to make a point how when you have a strong father in your life like Devin Haney has, you get to make certain decisions that grants you the freedom to get these kind of big fights like Cambosters twice. The same thing with Sean Porter. Sean Porter had a strong father on his life who wasn't taking no crap. And look, he fought everybody in the welterweight division. And that's the thing.

Giovante didn't have that. Javante just did what he was told. Whoever they put in front of me, I'm going to knock him out. And understand something. When you're a guy who comes from poverty, who's never really had much, and a guy like Floyd comes and change your life, gives you your first car, gives you a stipend,

gives you money, takes you around the world, introduces you to a new world, gives your family money. Like, when somebody does that, you have a lot of loyalty for them. And he had that loyalty for a long time. Just like you, Chris, I'm sure Mike Coppenter put you on. You know, so I know you have a lot of loyalty for him.

You understand? But, no, I'm joking. But I'm just saying, seriously, the person that puts you on, you have a lot of loyalty. You see the loyalty to everybody has for Al Hamel. Ridiculous. They'll turn down millions of dollars. just to do what Alhima says, rightfully so.

Now, it just so happens that in Dremonte's mind, Floyd wasn't giving him the fights that he needed for his legacy. So now he's like, damn, about to be 28 in November. I need to fight these guys. I need to call him out. So now you're seeing him call him out. So I never really faulted him as hard as other people faulted him for not fighting these fights, even though I'm at my wits end,

and I'm like, okay, now's the time. But he's showing us that he wants to fight these fights now. So a couple things. You know, it's funny. Eddie Hearn said on Thursday that he received a cease and desist letter from Mayweather promotion saying Gervante is still under contract. Oh, wow. So this is something that I was told on Saturday night by someone close to Gervante that he has a year left on his contract,

which made me wonder why he was saying all that stuff to begin with, but I don't have the answer to that question. Specifically, though. According to Eddie, he hasn't reached out to Giovante. He has clearly said in numerous occasions that once it's confirmed that his contract is up and he is a free agent, we will be making an offer. How can you send a cease and desist? Well, I would say I think somebody's been reaching out to Jervante. Somebody on that side of the proverbial street has been reaching out to Javante with potential offers. I believe I've heard that from a few people, and I believe that to be true.

Now, specifically Ryan Garcia, I don't disagree with any of you guys are saying about Devin Haney would be great. MacIntyre would be career defining. The problem is neither one of those guys is available this year. I mean, Devin Haney is locked into two fights with George Cambosis if he wins this fight next weekend. That's going to gobble up his entire 2022. Theoretically, Lomachenko is available, but I don't know the outcome of this war in the Ukraine, when Loma is going to be available to fight again. I mean, I'm just, I'm removing him from the conversation for now until there's more information about his future.

We know. There are guys, Chris. There are other guys like Tiafimo Lopez is back in camp. He's gone. He's gone, but he's up. He's got Pedro Campa. He's gone. He's gone.

He's at 140. Like, that's not real. That's not real right now. Out of everybody else, Ryan is the top rated guy. Right. And the most available. And the most available. And the most available.

And the most available right. All right. So you need to tell me, tank for that 140. So if a big. fighters created against the Tiafimo, he won't go to 140. You guys act like that fight is not. No, no, I'm just. And none of jokes.

And also you got another guy from New York, New Jersey. No, but I'm saying. He was at the Barclay Center on Saturday night, and he's willing to get in with tech, even at 135. I know right, he wants to unify 130. I'm talking about Shakur Stevenson, who, in my opinion, is the most skilled fighter in boxing next to Lomachenko, you know. So that, that's another potential big fight.

They can actually have it. Why jump to a one 30? fighter when you can fight Ryan Garcia, who's a big 130. I didn't say 130. No, but he's a 130 fighter. I'm just giving you more option. Remember I said that. Ryan is not the only option. No, he's just the best option. He's the best option. He's the biggest option. You know, and I'm just saying that, you know, that's a fight with when it comes to Stevenson, even though he's very talented and he is a big kid,

but he fights at 130. So it's a fight that comes with excuses. You know what I mean? So I'm just saying, why not fight Ryan? I'm just saying that we were forgetting Loma, and if Loma ever makes the decision that he wants to come back to a America to train to fight, he's the number one guy that should be fought by Tank Davis. But if it's not for Loma, then the next one in line is Ryan Garcia. The big thing for Tank Davis is that he has to tell whether it's Al Heyman, Leonard Ellorby, whomever, that they have to do a deal that's a cross-promotion. There is nothing left at between 130 and 140 on the PBC side of the street. I named a couple of names that you could theoretically throw him in with.

If you really want to do an ESA-Cruz rematch, I don't want to see that. Like, if you really want to do that, you could make that fight, but the biggest fights have to involve other promoters. So, you know, I know tank told Brian Custer, you know, before the fight that it was time to take the training wheels off. What that means is going to your team and saying, look, make a deal, show time and design. make a deal to do a pay-per-view involving Ryan Garcia. Ak, if you want to go Teafimo, Shakur, ESPN, Showtime, make a deal that involves a joint pay-per-view.

That's the big thing because none of these fights happen, guys, unless there's cooperation by the promoters and by the networks. They just don't. And Ryan and Tank, it's right there. They've negotiated that fight somewhat in the past, and I think both sides with Ryan and Tank are ready to do that fight. in the future, but it takes teamwork on this. I agree with you, Chris.

I think that the ball is in Leonard Lue and Mayweather promotions and Al Hamans are side of the court right now because we know that Eddie's already numerous of times with Demetrius Andrade, another fight, has been willing to cross-promote, even fight on another network. And we know that Al-Hamond guys aren't really technically signed network deals so they can move around

and they can fight other places. So maybe that's what Javante and his team is doing. Hey, we know these fights can be made if you really want to make them. I'm here to say, I want the fights made where it has to be the zone and showtime, showtime, the zone, one platform, the other platform, this, that, and the third. That needs to be said by Javante and his team, and maybe that's what he means by taking the training wheels off, being my own man, calling the shots. Because you and I know, and Barack knows that if the fighter wants to fight,

the fight can be made. 100%. And now that DeZone does pay-per-view, there should be no problem making Tank and Ryan Garcia. Yeah, I agree. And look, the reason it has to be a joint pay-per-view is because, look, Showtime has invested a lot of money in Tank Davis over the years. They deserve to be involved.

DeZone, similarly, the last five years, has invested millions in Ryan Garcia. They deserve to be involved. There's no, this is, I mean, Tank is the bigger star, but Ryan is still a huge draw. His gate in San Antonio was in excess of a million dollars. He's fighting at New Staples, I refuse to call it crypto. He's fighting at New Staples. I don't like the crypto either.

I don't like it. It's just a weird. It's just a sound, right? You, Staples in the sound is so great. But he's going to do a big number there, fighting Javier Fortuna, who has no fan base. It's going to be all Ryan Garcia fans that are there. These two sides, need to get together. It's not as big a fight as Mayweather Pachiao, but it's a fight that will

exceed 500,000 pay-per-view buys and do a gate north of 10 million. That's not nothing. That's a real number. It would probably do close to a million sales, in my opinion. I'm predicting that now if that fight ever happens. Javonte, Ryan Garcia, does a million pay-per-view sales. I'm saying it. I'm saying it now. Can you act like that's freaking something crazy? Well, he just said 500. I'm doubling. He said north of 500, which is phenomenal nowadays. Could be 501. Listen, let's be five o'clock.

Listen, let's be honest. What's the last time a fight has done over a million? Triple G. Canelo? Like, come on, these fights aren't doing a million like that anymore. And it's been, and I'm including Fury Wilder. I'm including all these guys, Errol Spence. So a million, that's saying a lot if it happens. Now we talk about Jake Paul's doing a million every time out.

Come on, man. Oh, oh. I don't think the last time. Not the last one. Last thought on this. And I'm just going to address this to boxing fans in general. Boxing fans need to be boxing fans. They need to stop being promoter fans.

They need to stop being network fans. It is wild to me, guys. How many fans on social media say, Tank doesn't need Ryan or Ryan doesn't need tank? I mean, fans just reached into their pocket for what, $80? to see tank blow out Rolando Romero. Ryan, as you point out, Barack, is probably headed for pay-per-view sooner rather than later

because now DeZone is in that business. You want to reach into your pocket to see him fight someone on that Romero level? No, boxing fans just push for the biggest fights, whether it's on Showtime, DeZone, Fox, wherever. If it's on the Food Network, you want to see the biggest fights every single time. Stop being a fan of networks.

They're on a Leonardalee payroll. made with the promotions favorite. Those fans that are that are saying that. Whoever they are, it's just crazy. It's just crazy to me that you are willing to sacrifice the magnitude of the fight because of it matters being on the network. Before I close this topic, where is Tank on your pound for pound list? Ak, you hinted at this.

Where is he on the Ack and Barack Pound for Pounder Pondas? He's still in the same spot. Barack, what do you have at number nine last or eight, nine? I don't remember, but he's definitely still in the same spot we had him after the Canelo fight. I'm not, I don't remember what it's eight or nine. Barack, can you help me out here? Do you remember? Listen, Chris, the guy is, the guy is, let me go, let me go on social media and check.

On box wreck, on box wreck, he's listed as five, five and a half. You know what that means? He's really like five, four. Correct. You know, everybody that's close to the top on a hundred and twenty-six-pound division is taller than him. He's a very small guy who can be comfortable in a hundred and twenty-six-pound. division, you know, and he moved up to 140 and fought Mario Barrios, who Keith Thurman, who, by the way, Sean Porter said it's the hardest puncher he ever fought, harder than

Errol Spence, could not stop. But Javante can stop him. He's a special guy. He's a very small special guy. And this is why we have him on a pound-for-pound list, whether he's number 10 or he's number eight. To me, it really doesn't matter. He's dominant. He's dominant. And Leo Santa Cruz, we talk about him. You say, oh, he was winning. He won two rounds. Leo Santa Cruz won two rounds on all the judge's scorecards. That's it out of the other three.

The other three rounds he won, and then he got knocked out in the last one. You know, so nobody's beating tank up. Nobody's hurting him. Nobody's wobbling him. He's dominant, explosive, and he's beating everybody that's there. Now, but if now he doesn't step up, there's a problem and he has to slide off that list and that's my opinion. And I'll add to that, Chris, like, you know, you say what you want about tank,

but if he would have matched up against those guys like Ryan Garcia, like Devin Haney, Cambosis, he's probably going to be the favorite in all of those fights. So if you're going to favor Devante and most of the fights on the lightweight division, that says, that lends to, hey, this guy's one of the best fighters in the world because we see him beforehand beaten most of those guys. I'm not saying he's going to go into favor against. What was that?

Phenomenal point. It's a phenomenal point if it wasn't completely wrong. I mean, I wouldn't favor. What's wrong about it? What's wrong? I wouldn't favor tank against any. I wouldn't favor tank against any of those guys. You wouldn't?

No. I don't know. I think the odds makers will have tank as a favorite. Chris, Chris. You. Over Ryan, maybe a little bit. And I love Ryan Garcia. And I think it's a.

phenomenal fight, but you would, you would favor tank. And I know you probably would favorite tank against Ryan Garcia. No. Let's not keep going on that phenomenal word. That's three times already. A lot of, a lot of phenomenal. Look, I think Ryan, look, look, I think Ryan, was that me? We all did.

I think we all did. I think we all did. I just think I think Ryan's bigger. I think, you know, he's bigger. And I think his fast twitch power is dangerous. And I think, look, and tank is not a volume puncher either. So, like, he's going to have to catch Ryan. I don't think Ryan lunges in in the same way a guy like Romero lunges in or is this vulnerable.

He is vulnerable in some ways. He's flat-footed, doesn't move his head a lot. But if he fights his fight, I'd favor him. And Devin Haney. I think Devin Haney is a great, like, Devin Haney has as much argument for pound for pound as Tank Davis does to me because he's as skilled as anyone. Well, the only reason why Devin is not on my pound-for-pound list. And I'm sorry, I'm not speaking for Barack, but it's only because Tank's, has won titles in different divisions.

No, he hasn't. No, he hasn't. He's won two titles. No, he hasn't. He's won two titles. No, he hasn't. He's won one. He's one-one-count those other divisions. Okay. But he's went to other. He's fought champions in other divisions. He's four guys in other divisions. And he's knocking guys out. But I agree with you. I think, Joe, I think Devin is one of the best fighters in the world as well. And believe it, I mean, after this weekend, I see him winning that fight, he's definitely going to be

on my power for power list after. Yeah, we're just in a great error because every fight somebody gets taken off and somebody gets added. That means we have at least 15 really, really solid great fighters right now. I agree. I agree. And the back of the pound for pound list is so tough. I mean, Stephen Fulton could make an argument after this weekend that he belongs on that list. Back of mind right now is Chikor Stevenson and Dmitry Bevel. But, you know, it's tough to kind of ask. Well, Beezle is on most people's list now. Yeah, now he is. All right, you mentioned Devin Haney,

fighting this weekend against George Camposos in Australia. I think we all give Devin an enormous amount of credit for packing his bags and not only going to Australia, but going to Australia alone. His father, Bill Haney, will not be ringside for that fight, denied a visa to Australia. Ben Davison, who has been a big part of Team Haney for the last few fights, he will not be there either. Also with a visa issue.

Barack, we'll start with you on this one. You know, under perfect circumstances, I would favor Devin Big in this situation. But he's going to George Camposa's backyard, and he's doing it with Yuel Juda as his primary cornerman. So give me your thoughts on how this fight is going to play out. Well, basically, they said he has to go fight alone. Like literally, his whole corner is not even allowed to be there. So we got to commend him Devin Haney for that. That's incredible.

But when you look at the styles, you look at the styles, you see George Camposos did great against Tia Fima Lopez. He had a sneaky right hand. He also showed a great chin, a great durable chin, and he really didn't get hurt to maybe the eighth round. And then he started to wear down, but then came back, knocked down in the 10th round, came back in 11 to 12th round. So he showed a lot of durability as well, as well as trickiness and some hand speed as well. But we're talking about somebody who actually has it all. Maybe not crazy punching power, but has everything else, that ring IQ, that discipline,

he never leaves his game plan, speed, accuracy, his side-to-side movement, like he's just a beautiful fighter in that ring. But we saw against Lanaris that if you take, focused off for a second, you can get rock. Does Cambosas have that kind of power, that explosive power like Lanares has? I don't know. But even so, he got rocked, the end of the 10th round, went back to the corner,

kind of regained himself, came back in an 11th round, and didn't hold until a minute later after he got ahead again. So he showed durability as well. But you've got an edge in the person who never has close fights. The last three of Canbosan fights were all split decisions. Devin Haney doesn't even come close to split decisions. He barely even loses a round. It's hard to bet against.

somebody like that. And Barack, I'll add to that one of my favorite attributes that Devin has is Allah Floyd Mayweather is conditioned. I mean, I've never seen Devin Haney tired in a fight, which is so important in the championship level when you're talking about 12 rounds. So here's a guy that is probably going to be at the same pace that he was in the first. He'll be the same pace in the 10th round. That goes a long way. So just look, obviously the attributes to there, the skill, the speed, everything that you need to go in enemy territory and get a win. Now, people are worried about enemy territory. People are worried about home cooking because of what we saw with many Pachial and Jeff

Horn. And I talked to Barack about this early in the week. I said, hey, maybe because of that fight, they're highlighted now. You know, the microscope is under those judges and they don't want to F it up. So they're going to try their best to be as fair as possible because they're going to They know they're going to be scrutinized for that. So maybe it might be a blessing in disguise that that happened with Manny Packyell and Jeff Horn and Devin gets a fair shake when it comes to that decision.

I mean, I'm hoping for that because, you know, to both of you guys' points, this guy has so many things against him. I mean, look, credit to Yoel Judo, who's been in enemy territory when Zab Judah fought Spinks and his son became undisputed a Walterweight champion of the world. I mean, he's a guy from Brooklyn, New York. He has some toughness to him. So, you know, Devin has some tough people around him, but it's not like having his pops here.

So he has a lot of things against him, which I think will add an extra chip on his shoulder, more motivation to shut everybody up, especially George Cambosis. What kind of sport are we dealing with here where corruption is just okay for us to talk about? And if it was to happen, we're going to be like, oh, see, home cooking.

And then we know. Well, obviously, you know it's not okay with us, but you're right. It's sad that we're so cavalier about this. the most dangerous sport in the world, and we talk about, you know, corruption being okay. Like, lives are changed every single time there is a bad decision. No question about that. I like Devin's chances a lot.

I'm going to tell you why. During the buildup for the Teofimo-Lopez fight, it was abundantly clear that George Cambos had gotten under Teofimo's skin. It was bothering. Now, some of that had to do with all that Teofimo had going on outside the ring in his own camp, but George got to him. And Teafima went into that fight trying to blast him out of there

in one round and fought the duration of the fight trying to blast him out of there with one punch. Like that was just his mindset, and it was the wrong approach to take in a fight like that. Watching the clips from Australia this week, it is cracking me up

how dismissive Devin has been of George's kind of antics. When George calls Devin a rat and an informant for sending him messages about how to beat Devin Haney. Devin is just shaking and said. I saw one clip. Oh, by TV, me a little bit. Sorry.

And then I watched something recently where George is talking about his journey and Devin just stops and goes, would you stop? I mean, come on. Let it go. Like, George, I understand what George is doing. George wants Devin Haney to come outside of himself, to go out there and try to blast him out of there because George knows he probably. probably can't win a straight boxing match with Devin Haney.

But the traps that Teofimo Lopez fell into, I don't think that Devin's going to fall into them. I think he's going to go out there and box. And if he is just in a boxing match with George Cambosis, to me, this should be like a 9-3, maybe even 10-2 type of fight. I just think Devin is that much better, a straight boxer than George Cambosus is. Yeah, and I also think that a good sign of a confident fighter he's just talking about what happens inside the ring.

He's not talking about, oh, well, when you come over to here to this country, then you're going to have so many people against you. You got that long flight. It sounds like he's using all of that to give himself confidence. I'm talking about George Cambosis. He needs all of that to give himself confidence. You don't have your trainer. You don't have your second guy in there in the corner.

So Devin doesn't talk like that. If the roles were reversed and it was Cambosis coming over to a. America, Devin wouldn't mention a long fight. Devin wouldn't mention the crowd. Devin wouldn't care. You know what he'd say? He'd say, skills pay the bills. Because he is actually a confident guy who talks less because he's very confident. He's like, you know what?

Just shut up and let's just fight. Yeah, I mean, I agree with that, Barack. I mean, I think that, you know, George, a lot of people felt like Tiofema had an off night and he hears that chatter around and he wants to prove and he's hyping himself up to, you know, so to speak, like, hey, I'm the real. deal, that wasn't a fluke against the female, but he can't ignore the fact

that Devin is a phenomenal boxing. I'm throwing that word out there again, phenomenal box. So, so I don't, I do, I like that angle, you know, and I like Chris's angle, too, you know, the fact that he's not getting under Devin's skin, which means Devin is not going to

get off to, you know, and get out of his game plan. He's going to stick to the script. He never does. Skills pay the bills. He always does. And Bill Hayney, we had a conversation him and he brought up a point. Listen, how many close fights have you seen Devin N? And it's true. We haven't seen him in any close fights. Now, granted, you know, he has two, you know, names on his resume that we know are former world champs, credible fighters in Georgia and Lanadas, but still in

all, even those fights were not close, in my opinion. And George has struggled with subpar opponents. I don't want to call names out there, but before Teet Fimo, this guy has struggled with guys that don't even come close to a Devin Haney boxing ability. Oh, it's Mickey Bay. It's Lisa L. B'allbrook. Yeah, I know, but I like Mickey Bay. I know. I like Mickey Bay, too.

I think he's eventually going to fight Devin Farmer, maybe sometime this summer. And Mickey Bay is team Haney. He spars with Devin. Devin gives him the business. And that's even more help in the camp saying this is what Camboces has. This is what he does. Like, it just, everything seems to point in Devin's direction. But I think that not having your father.

being in Australia, knowing that you have to fight him again, not having been Davidson. Maybe that kind of lifts it up closer to a 50-50 fight, but as far as... If that affects him. If that even affects him, exactly. You know what I mean? But we're talking about skills and the eye test.

Yeah, Devin. Yeah, Ak, I would just say one other thing. And Barack alluded to this. The one concern I have with Devin is that he is so obsessed with being a power puncher. Like he needs you to believe that he's got pop. He gets offended when it's even suggested that he's, quote, pillow-fisted or, you know, has soft hands. And I don't think he'll do this. But where he could get into trouble is if he goes out there and just tries to trade with Cambosis.

Thinking Cambosis can't hold up to him. I think he's smart enough to know this is not the time to do that. This is not the time to test your power. You got to go to that country, beat this guy. every single round and get out of there with those belts. That's what that's what's on his agenda, in my opinion. And that could affect the fighter. I think devil will do that with a different type of viewpoint.

I think that affects every fighter. There's no fighter on this planet that doesn't get affected by that. But it's about to what degree and what extent. Because look, Floyd Mayweather is probably the most disciplined fighters ever, fighter I ever seen in my life. He probably gets deaf threats more than anybody, more than the president of the United States and he doesn't let certain things bother him. But there was a couple of times, like with Kodo and May Donna, he chose to fight a different way just because of what the fans were saying.

That's what chatter can do to a disciplined fighter. And him not having his father there, I think he wants to take that out on Cambosis, you know, so yes, it could affect him a little bit, but I think he's smart enough. You never know, but I do think he's smart enough to say, if I, if I, you do that. If I sit down on my punches and really try to get him out of there, it's going to be in the later rounds after I don't lasered him for six or seven rounds. I'm not sure if you guys noticed during a press

conference when George Cambosis said, hey, I tried to help get your father in here. And Devin said, oh, stop lying. No, you didn't. Caping. So in other words, he feels like all those dudes kind of, I don't want to say conspired, but they're not doing that, they're not

going out of the way to try to get Bill over there. You know who doesn't take offense? to not being called a power puncher, feather fists himself, Sergio Mario. I knew he's going to say Sergio. I knew you were going to say Sergio. No, that bothers him too. Not as much as others, for sure.

Not now, but when he was fighting, it probably did. He said something during a fighter meeting recently where he said, when he was fighting Southpaw, he was a power puncher. I kind of chuckled at that one. I don't know how that's the case. Last thing were you guys. Did you laugh during the meeting? I did. I always laughed at him.

Maybe he was a power puncher. It's just, it's hard to connect if you're not a true South War, so he just didn't land it to show everybody maybe. No, I don't think you're... I'm always going to do fitness surgery. Last thing for you guys, the news this week outside of the ring is that Anthony Joshua

has changed trainers again. This time, he is going with Robert Garcia. Some pictures were taken of Robert over in the UK. Right now, he is apparently going to be working with Team Joshua. I'm not entirely sure exactly what the dynamics going to be in the corner of Anthony Joshua before his fight with Alexander Usik. But, Ak, your reaction to AJ pivoting to Robert Garcia with his fight with Alexander Usik,

at least tentatively scheduled right now for July 23rd. I mean, my first reaction was, I like it. That's what I said initially. I like the fact that he's actually putting it out there. Okay, this is who I'm going to be with because, you know, we also saw what happened months ago, like he had a tour, a gym tour with different guys. But what I felt in the Usec fight, the first Usec fight, that, you know, AJ should have went in there trying to outbox Usec.

Most people felt that way. He's the bigger, stronger guy, being aggressive, you would think, easy said to done, but that would be the most effective plan against a guy like Usec. I think Robert Garcia is a perfect trainer for that type of style. He's very offensive-minded, that of Freddie Roach. So I like the matchup between the trainer and fighter there. Now, in this one training camp, can Robert really put his footprint, you know, his fingerprints on AJ enough for us to see a difference?

I don't think we need to see much of a different AJ. AJ has shown that he can be that savage, aggressive headway. We've seen it in the past. I think Robert just has to get it back out of him. So I like it. I'm excited about it. I think we're going to see a slight different AJ. Barack, what do you think?

Well, what I think that people don't notice is that it's not like, Joshua went in there and tried to outbox Ussick. It's just he didn't seem to be that confident while he was fighting Usook. Because listen, it's not like he went in there against Charles Martin and said, I'm going to walk you down and knock you out. He outboxed Charles Martin. And without boxing him, counterpunching, he lets hard right hands go. He didn't do that, this particular fight with Usook.

So it's not like he was just trying to outbox, and his outboxing doesn't come with power. his outboxing comes with power. He showed that against Brazil. He outboxed those guys who are not superior boxers than him. So it's not like that. I just think for some reason

he didn't have the confidence to let his right hand go, kind of like how Klits go against Fury. You know what I mean? And that's the problem. So I just think he needs somebody to reignite that confidence in him so that he can let his hands go

whether he chooses the box or he chooses to walk you down. It doesn't matter. You just prove my point, because you said he outboxed those guys. So if he went in the fight with Usek with that same mind frame, that counterpunch isn't going to work

like it did with those guys because he's still trying to outbox Uset and wait for that shot to land. So maybe that's the wrong game playing. He threw soft right hands and still wobbled Usoc. That's not the regular Anthony Joshua used to seeing. That's all I'm saying. It has nothing to do with whether he chose to box or not.

He did not box normally. That's what I mean. So whether he tried to outbox or not, it wasn't the same Joshua when we've seen against Klichko, against every other fighter. Even against Parker, he threw harder right hands.

For some reason, these right hands were very, very tentative. They weren't hard. They were arm punches, and it still hurt Ussick. If we just get a different Anthony Joshua who's confident, who says,

I am going to win no matter what, then we'll see a better, a different turn. Well, a different turnoff. I don't say better. Whoever wins. wins. I think this has the potential to be a disaster. I really do. Why? Only because, look, he's been trained by Rob McCracken his entire career. That's one style. Months ago, it was reported

that Angel Fernandez was going to be his head trainer. Angel Fernandez. He's been part of his camp, though. He's been part of his camp for a while. Right. Well, well, no, no question. But Angel Fernandez, what we know about him is that he has been schooled in the Cuban form of boxing. So if he's taking a more prominent role, I would assume he's trying to put more of his imprint on AJ style. I have no issue with Robert Garcia. I think he should have chosen Robert Garcia as well, but he should have done it three months ago.

Like we're now into early June when they're getting started. And you're bringing in a coach, and I know he's been there at various points in the last month or so, whatever it's been, but you're bringing in a coach who's got a completely different style that you used to months or seven weeks really before, the biggest fight in your career when you take on a pound for pound great in Alexander Usik. Like I don't, I just feel like there's going to stay with McCracken after the last result.

Honestly, at this point, maybe. Like if you're going to wait for it to get this long, I don't know if you want to shake things up and have all these different voices. And I mentioned this at the top. I don't know who his head trainer is going to be. Everything seems to indicate there's like a co-training committee going on there between angels. Maybe that's what he needs. That's not, but it never works.

He maybe needs to be shicken up. That never works, no. I don't think it has anything, I don't think it has anything to do with anything except confidence. I'm trying to tell you, it's like Kodo. Koto, when he got his first and second loss, he was like, he needed a new trainer just to give him confidence. That's all it was. Nobody really taught him anything different. No one needs to teach Joshua anything different.

He just needs to go in there confident to let his hands go like he did in every other fight. Can't we see that he fought Ussick differently than he fought everybody else? Meanwhile, Barack, you mentioned Cotto just needed confidence. I would push back a little bit on that because who was, I'm blanking. Pedro, the Cuban coach, Cota went with for like a minute. That didn't work. Like that style. You lost the trap.

Right. Like that style of training didn't work for Coto. It wasn't a confidence thing there with Coto. It's like he went to a coach different style. He went to Freddie who had a more offensive oriented style and they clicked. Like to me that was as much about strategy as he was. When a guy beat you down, when a guy beat you down like Antonio Margarito did, and even in the second fight, he was getting hurt a lot towards the end.

Thank God, his eye socket was broken by Paci-Iall already. It's hard to have the confidence. It's hard to have that same confidence. When Mandy Pac-Iall knocks you out like that, it's hard to have that confidence. You know what he did? He went and got tattoos. He tried to change his mindset. He tried to get that confidence back.

So, yes, it might have been a bad style, but it's really about, even if you have a bad style, there are fighters in there who has bad styles. but they feel like they can never lose. And they're going to give it their all. And if the style ain't working, they'll switch. And that takes confidence. Yeah, I just feel like there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen right now going into this fight. And is AJ going to be singularly focused when he gets back in the corner between rounds,

when he's hearing different advice? Is he going to be comfortable applying that advice in the ring? And again, if he was going up against a significantly lesser opponent, I wouldn't have a problem with it, but he's going up against a great. He's going up against the guy that is legit. Hey, listen, Chris, let me add really, add something really quick in regards to different trainers.

Look, Bill Haney brought up a great point. The fact that his entire career, Devin, has worked with so many different trainers, and that made him confident that he took a piece of everybody and he's going to have something special that most fighters don't. So maybe the fact that AJ's been with a few guys that might make him better.

I mean, yes, there's a flip. side to that. But what I'm saying is let's be optimistic here. I mean, something about Robert, to Barack's point, is probably making him feel more confident, which is why he went with him. And maybe that's a real. Look, gumbo is one of my favorite dishes and it has all type of ingredients in there. So maybe all these ingredients might turn into something good. You know what though? Like, you know what? Like, you know what? One of the thing about Robert Garcia, like, if I'm AJ, go to Robert's gym. Like, what are you doing staying in the UK? Like, go to Oxnard and train Like get out of your comfort zone.

Like go someplace where you're not this super known figure. I remember Eddie Hearn telling me that when AJ went to San Diego to work briefly with Canello's team, like he was out in one of those parks and nobody recognized him. Like go to a place where you're anonymous, where the focus is simply on boxing. That's another part of this. Look, Robert Garcia is a great trainer. I don't know why Robert's going there. Why isn't AJ and his team coming to him?

That's what I assume. I assume that he would be in Cali. I mean, that's a personal preference. You never know what helps a fighter, you know, and you don't have to acclimate to the time change out here in the United States and then go back and then acclimate to the Europe time. So in the UAE, so it's like, I just think it's probably best than them stay closer to that time zone and just trained with somebody who gives you confidence.

That's all. I suppose, but he's also not flying middle seat coach back to the UK. like he's probably hopping on a private jet with a flat bed that he can take a nap on before he gets there. So that's a different story altogether. Fellas, always great to do this with you guys. You can check out Ak and Barack on the Zon Boxing show every weekday over on DeZone.

Enjoyed it, guys. We'll do it again. All right. Take it easy. Thanks for having you, brother. When we come back, my conversation with Stephen Fulton. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show, isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Fight fans, take your best shot with $200 in free bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. It doesn't matter if your fighter gets knocked out or tapped out. New customers get an instant $200 in free bets on your first bet of $5. Just sign up with the promo code boxing to bet on all the biggest boxing matches and UFC fights. Choose the money line to the method of victory and so much more. To get your $200 in free bets, guaranteed. Just sign up with the promo code. Code Boxing on the Fandual Sportsbook app. All right, Stephen Fulton is the Unified 122-pound champion.

On Saturday, you will defend his titles against Daniel Roman. That's a fight you can see on Showtime, and Stephen joins me here on the show. Stephen, I was just thinking about this before you came on. What I love about the lighter weight classes is that everything seems like it's a big fight. Like, every single fight you guys are in is significant. You win a title against Angelo Leo. you unify against Brandon Figueroa, and now you get Roman,

who has won two fights in a row since a really close loss to M.J. Akma Dahlia. Does it feel that way to you, like that every fight you're in is a significant fight? Yeah, it feels. I mean, it is that way. I don't want to say it feels because it is that way, and I'm the only guy that's doing it in the division anyway.

No other guys are, you know, doing that in this division. Why is it important for you to do it? I feel like this this is just the route that I wanted to take as well as me knowing I can defeat these guys, me knowing I can beat them. I heard you say earlier that

the last few fights, people have seen different sides of Stephen Fulton. What do you mean by that? I mean, they've seen the side that, you know, a lot of pressure earlier a lot of pressure fighters will come and try to outpressure me. But now that they've seen that I can do that too.

Now all of them are second-guessing. and should we just pressure this guy? Because I have outstanding inside work as well. Not just applying the pressure, but more so the nice inside shots, the body, head, whatever. I can do whatever. I'm versatile. Was that a decision you made to kind of show that side of you?

Yes, that was the decision that I made. I felt like it was a decision that needed to be made as well and needed to be shown, a side that needed to be shown. Why did it need to be shown? Because, you know, we're fighters. So you don't want to get used to continue to do one style. You need to utilize every fight aspect that you have, every aspect you have in this fight game.

So showing that was like, oh, all right, then he could do that too, but then he could do this too. I wonder what else can he do? And right now, that's where I'm at with it right now. I'm just showing all of my, well, a lot of my tools, not everything, but a lot of my tools. You think after that Figueroa fight, people will approach fights with you differently,

knowing you can do a whole bunch of different things? Yes. I heard you say recently that you have something of a love-hate relationship with boxing. What did you mean by that? I mean, I feel like sometimes that can be self-explanatory, but boxing has its ups and downs. It has its moments where it could chew you up and spit you out or it can make it for a full feast.

So when do you love it the most and when do you hate it the most? I love it the most when I'm fighting and just regularly training. I hate the most is when I get in camp sometimes. Like making weight is like one of the main things I hate about this. And I think every fight I got great with me with that. But this camp was a little different. I was a lot more happy and a lot more just willing to do the work. So this time it wasn't a love-hate thing as well as the media.

can make you, you know, make it a hate thing as well. And the people with the people, the outside people within the sport, not the, you know, not the ones that's behind the camera, but more so the audience, the fans, things like that. Well, you got to stay off social media, Stephen. That's the worst place on earth. No, I can deal with that, though. It isn't just the social media with me.

It isn't. I've heard you say that making ways. was a lot easier for this fight than that it was for figure roll why is that i feel like i did things the right way figure real fight i i i messed up the camp i messed up that aspect on my own that wasn't nobody but me i messed that up but i feel like this time it was a lot more better you know i had nutritionist so everything was greater i got stronger towards the end of the the camp i got stronger and i'm i'm eating up until now i'm still eating i'm still drinking i just great Is this your first time with a nutritionist?

Yes. Why did you decide now? I mean, I think all boxers should have nutritionists. It always seems to pay off for them. Sometimes they're expensive. I get it. But it always seems to pay off for boxes when they add someone like that to their camp. I feel like I did a discam because the last, the way my body felt last camp.

I knew it wasn't the right way to do it. So you went to this fight with Roman, who's a very good fighter. I mean, I was ringside for that. Padalia fight and it was close. It was a close loss for Danny. What do you think of Roman as a fighter? He's a good fighter. That's what I think of him. He's a good fighter. What kind of style do you think he's going to bring out of you? I feel like he's going to bring out my defensive side. More of the counterpuncher than the aggressor or the inside fighter. I'm always be aggressive, but more so that that defense and, you know, maybe a little

little bit of that countering as well, because he's a counterfight, he's just a counterfighter. I don't think he's the fighter that's going to go get it, but maybe that could change in this fight. You know, I feel like this is his last opportunity to, you know, be on top. I think you're right about that, for sure. He had that fight with Ahmadalev. Is there any part in your mind, because I know you want that Ahmadalev fight, but is there any part of you who wants to beat Roman more convincingly than Akhmadaliev did? Yes, not just more than Akhmadaliev did. but just show him himself like it's no comparison.

I wear it separate. I heard you say you've rewatched the Figueroa fight a whole bunch of times. Why do you do it? Why do you rewatch it? I like watching that fight now. I enjoy watching that fight. It was a hell of a fight. It was a great fight.

And I like some of the things that I was doing. The way my body felt and everything, when I came out the ring, I just was like, man, I felt like S-H-I-T. But when I went back and I looked at it. looked at, I'm like, damn, I was doing that. Like, that was a nice fight. Or I could see why they gave him this round. Or I was winning that round, but he tried to get it back from later rounds. I'm like, so I'm

very observing of it. I'm very aware of a lot that was going on. But once I start watching, I'm like, damn, that's a good fight. And they just give me that extra confidence. Like, damn, I went through that. Like, I overcame that. Oh, yeah. I can't wait to fight this guy, because he's not going brain that type of pressure. And if he do, we all

know I'm ready for it. Now it was a fantastic fight, one of the best fights of the year. And I know you've been You know, when you say you like to rewatch it now, I find it interesting because I know you've been irritated by people that have said, well, why aren't we seeing the rematch? Why is that not happening? You've said, you've said, I won the fight. Why do I need to have to argue about the rematch? No, for sure, for sure.

Like, why are y'all coming to me about it? You'll come to him. He's a loser. And he acted like one. Did that frustrate you how he acted afterwards? No, I ain't frustrating me. It was, I understood it more so than ever. That's why I didn't take it to the next level.

I understood it. It's his first loss. It was a close fight. But then when I rewatched it, it wasn't that close, but it was still a close fight. So, I mean, you have to understand certain people that tasted their first time, their first defeat. Everything could be frustrating.

And it was a pro-figure royal crowd. So it was like, I understand it. Oh, and you know, too. And I've experienced this with fighters before. Like, you know, his whole team, his whole camp must have been like, you won the fight, you won the fight. It only makes a guy feel like, He won it even more if people are telling him that.

And if they go rewatch that fight in this camp, still telling me, he won they retarded. You said you actually want to watch that fight back with him at some point, I believe. Oh, yeah, yeah, that'd be lit. Get us in the same room together, why I'd rewatch the fight so I can break it down to him while I'm eating some chips or something. You know, look at that shot, bro. You wouldn't hit nothing. Look at it. Like, you really think you want it.

You're really delusioning. It doesn't have to be violent. Like, it don't have to be violent. we already fought. Yeah. I like that. That feels like tremendous showtime content. Exactly.

That right there just lets you know. That right there lets you know I got the mindset. Like I know how to promote things. I know how to, like, I'm good at those type of things. I should do. They should do that for every fighter. After every close fight, have the two guys sit down in a room and rewatch together

and see if they come to common ground. That'll be lit. On that. Last question for you. I mean, you know, Daniel Ramon is right in front of you. Is it Akhmadaliyiv or bust for you after that? move up? I mean, is there anything left for you at 122 if you can't get that fight with Akhmadalu? Man, I don't know. I think I want that fight, though. I know. I know you do.

It's a great fight. Yeah, I don't know. I would have to, I had to wait and think that out, like hard, really think that out. But you're not going to wait, or would you wait for Inouye or Donair or those guys to decide to want to move up? I'm big, my mom. I'm big, my myself. So if I wouldn't wait for M.J., I wouldn't wait for those guys. Do you think that, I mean, boxing politics suck. I mean, they prevent fights. You feel like boxing politics would stop you and MJ from getting in the ring? No, I think we can make that happen. I feel like it had to be up to MJ and them, though. But I think we can make it happen.

It would be great to see an undisputed fight between you two. And that would be yet another big fight in a row for you as you keep this train rolling. and along as well. Stephen, good luck on Saturday, man. It's a great fight. You and Daniel Romon live on Showtime. Good to catch up with you. Likewise.

When we come back, my conversation with George Campos. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, on Saturday, the undisputed lightweight championship will be settled once and for all when Devin Haney challenges George Cambosis in Australia, down under for all the 135 pound belts. George Cambosso is, of course, coming off a huge win. over Teofima Lopez late last year. George joins me here on the show. George, before I get into your preparation for this fight, what has the last six months or so been like for you

as you have gone from, you know, relatively unknown contender to four-belt world champion? Yeah, look, it's been amazing. The support has been, you know, right up there, the whole country behind me, you know, a lot of the world behind me that was so impressed from that big victory I had, with Lopez. But my tunnel vision, my obsession got more. I became champion. I became hungrier.

So I got to build my own private gym, which was real fun. And that's what I put in the work throughout this whole camp, throughout this whole time. I got to really continue to perfect my craft. But life did get busy. A lot more people wanted to meet me. You did get right back in the gym. I mean, following you on social media. It was probably a week, maybe, after you got back to Australia, and you were right back in. Actually, I was back in the gym when I went to the Devin Haney Jojo Diaz fight. I was training in the MGM Grand nonstop because I'm never content.

I'm always trying to get better and better and that's the kind of fighter I am. So even while I was scoping out my opponents after my big win against Lopez, I was not enjoying the high life. I was not partying. I was not celebrating. I was back into the gym

because that's what I do. You wrap that Devin Haney fight, like you said, against Jojo Diaz. Devin won that fight. For a while, you thought you were going to get Vassili Loma,

Of course, it didn't work out. Lomachenko's got his situation in the Ukraine. How did you feel at the time about pivoting from Lomachenko to Devin Haney? No problem. I always said that either Devin Haney or Lomchenko, whoever wanted the fight, whoever made the best deal and everything made sense. I was happy to fight them both. No problem.

So I got a lot of respect for Lomachenko. Obviously, he went to the wall. He's fighting a bigger fight. No problem. Devin Haney was one of the guys that we wanted as well. and he came to the party, respect to that, and here we are. You had the leverage as the four belt champion at lightweight, and you used it. You got a multi-fight deal effectively in this situation.

You're having the fight in Australia. Why was it important for you to have this title defense in Australia? Yeah, of course, you know, I had to go earn the belts off teeth in my life. It's in his backyard. I've had to do it. You know, countless years back to back. So I deserve this. I deserve to have the deal the way I wanted it

and the way it makes most sense for my future, my family. But for me, I love to fight and being so passionate about fighting, especially here in Australia. I had to bring this back to Australia. It had to be here. I had to defend my belts at home.

Nothing else mattered about fighting here in Australia because it's been a long time, so now I get to have my people supporting me. And that's the most amazing part about it because they get to really get to see world class fighting. That's what's the bet. I got to give you credit, George. You are, I think, masterful at the pre-fight buildup.

I mean, you got deep under Teofima Lopez's skin in that week before the Lopez fight. And it feels like you're at it again. I mean, when I hear you say things like, you're a rat, you're an informant, I'm like, George is doing that for a reason. Like, he wants to get Devin Haney out of his comfort zone and get him to make some mistakes. Is there any of that to some of the things that you say? I'm just having fun I'm having fun

but I'm just telling the truth everything I said in the Lopez fight was the truth and what I'm saying here is the truth you know obviously Lopez is aware of it he's gone and told me certain things

nothing to do with his boxing skills nothing to deal with things that he does in the ring things that he was doing outside of the ring so it is what it is that's what it is and it's out there

I know it I saw it in his eyes it ruffled a few feathers and so be it we've got a fight to the handle on Sunday But if it's in his head, that's beautiful. It's your choice of words, though, it's great. Rat and Informant.

You know that's going to, like, kind of poke him a little bit and get him a little irritated because those words are loaded words, you know, when it comes to situations like that. Yeah, they are, but, you know, everyone that saw me after that press, like, that said, man, that is a rat. That is an informer. That's boxing informer. So that's history there.

I don't know if there's ever been a boxing informant, but there is there. So in preparing for Devin Haney, has he been more, or less complicated to prepare for than Tiafima Lopez was? No, I take every fighter and every champion with full respect and I prepare unbelievable to make sure that there are no stones on turn. I brought in an unbelievable spying partner in Alba Bell, who is 22 and I, number 4 or 5 in the world,

super sharp. So him having other good spire and puns, Olympians, amateur prospects, amateur stars, contenders, the whole lot inspiring and training, as well as my American team for seven, eight weeks with me, full team, Zander Zayas as well. So we have left no stone unturn. I have invested, again, in myself,

to make sure that there are no stones unturn, and we'll be ready. Teufima Lopez came out, really looking to knock you out in the first round. He wanted to one punch you into the ground in that fight. You took advantage of that. You were able to down box him, put him down early, and change the dynamic of the fight pretty early.

Devin Haney is more boxer, than puncher. Are you expecting a very different kind of fight? Yeah, whatever he wants to bring to the table, if he wants to run and move, I fought runners and move us. I'll beat them well. People underestimate my boxing skills and my boxing abilities. So whatever he wants to do, no problem. Maybe I'm in his head.

He's going to come forward like a man possessed. So we'll see. Whatever he wants to do, we are fully prepared, and I will win this fight, victory by any means. Do you feel more or less confident now that you've won the belts? I mean, what impact has the have the belts have on your confidence? I've always been very confident. That's no lie.

Everyone knows that. I think if I didn't have this confidence, I wouldn't be able to get to this position. But winning the championship belts, going through that 12-round war with Tifa Molipez, a puncher like himself in his hometown, that elevates you even more. That confidence grows ever more.

And now I know, and the world knows, something I knew deep down inside me that I am a world champion, I'm ready for anybody and I'm elite. So the confidence has grown many, many levels, and I'm very excited for this Sunday. You know, people have asked Devin how he's going to feel fighting in front of 30, 40, 50,000, however many it is in that stadium, will he be overwhelmed by it? I mean, it's a big crowd for you. They'll be there supporting you.

But how do you feel you'll react to that kind of atmosphere? Yeah, look, it's going to be an amazing crowd. I know there's already over 45,000 tickets gone. It's going to be huge and very exciting. So for me, it's motivating. It's aspiring. I haven't had this opportunity to fight in front of my people for a very long time, especially in the stadium like this.

For him, let's see how he handles it, but he's got to handle what's in front of him. And that's me. The crowd can't win fights for him or for me. So it's me and him in that ring, and that's what I'm excited about to get my hands on him. It'll be an early start for a fight like this to take advantage of prime time in the U.S. Any adjustments you have to make because of that? Well, I've been sparring my whole life around that same time anyway. I'm always training early in the morning or midday or in that afternoon period.

So really, this is natural to me. For him, it might be a little bit different, but maybe this is no problem. And look, I'm a warrior. If he wants to fight right now, if he wants to fight whatever time. How are we, I mean, are you eager to prove that you were not kind of a one-hit wonder, that you didn't just, as some people suggest, like got Teofimo on a bad nut? How much is that not you, if at all, about proving that you're more than, just one fight. Yeah, that doesn't bother me for me. I know who I am. I know what I am as a fighter,

as a warrior. And I just keep proving these people wrong. I've always been an underdog my whole career and I'll continue to prove them wrong. So if they say that, no problem. I don't really listen to it too much. I'm the champion. I got all the belts and I'm filling out a whole stadium. No question. In a boardwalk. It's amazing. No question. People, you know, in the U.S., you know, Tank Davis has talked about how well, when Devin wins, I'll fight him for all the belts. I assume that you've got a different opinion on that, of course. But like how you watch Tank Davis fight, like, is that a fight you'd be interested

down the line? Yeah, 100%. Great win to win, respect there. But again, he fought Roly Romero. So, you know, you can't take too much into it except it was a great knockout. Look, I'm so focused on Devin Haney. I will handle my business on Sunday. But there is another guy that will get this shot after this.

And that is Maconeman. That's a respect there because he had this shot. If he can't get out of the war, then no problem. We look at Tank or Ryan Gassel or any of these guys, or any of the high-level guys, but mindful focus on Devon Haney. You don't want a nice easy fight if you win something like this? Get yourself a little homecoming. This is the homecoming.

This is the, I can't do that to myself. I can't do that to the fans of boxing. I think we've had enough of that. What for? I'm a warrior. I laid all in the line. I fought the best of the best. And when it's all said and done, everyone will know that Cambosis never took an easy road,

never took a step backwards and gave the boxing world, you know, the best fights possible. And I think more people need to follow this, what I'm doing at the moment. I couldn't agree more. I mean, I think there's a lot of people that didn't believe you when you said, I'm going straight into a Lomachenko fight, a Devin Haney fight, a big fight right away. I think there were a lot of people that, as often happens in boxing, expected you to take some kind of victory lap fight right at home. What was it that drove you, you know, into that big fight?

I just, you know, the journey that I've had, the hard years that I've had, how can I go to anything less? How can I get to the top now and start to milk it for what it is? I have to fight the best. I can't look at myself in the mirror if I did anything less. So I think fighting the top guys and beating the top guys, especially when I'm against it again when I'm an underdog, that's what motivates me.

That's what inspires me even more. That's what brings out the best in ferocious cambosis. Fighting the best brings out the best in me. So that's the way I'll continue my career, and it will be that easy road out. Well, it's going to be a terrific fight. George, always good to catch up with you. Hopefully, we see you back in the U.S. sometime soon. I'm sure. Look, I love fighting the U.S.

and I've spent plenty of time in America, I fought many times in the U.S., so I'm sure I will come and headline a big show to sending on my belts in the U.S. sometime soon. But for now, Australia, super fights, stadium fights, is our focus. Great to see you, George. Good luck on Saturday. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate it. When we come back, this week's picks brought to you by Fandul. All right, time now for this.

week's picks brought to you by our friends at Fandul. And this week, I am locked in on the George Cambosus Devin Haney fight, the undisputed lightweight championship taking place in Australia. And the odds for this are very close. Cambosis plus 138, Devin Haney minus 168. Now, you heard me say earlier in the pod, all things being equal, I would bet big on Devin Haney. I think he's the better boxer. Simple as that. And Devin Haney. Haney under optimal circumstances is better than George Cambosis. But we do know coming in, these are not optimal circumstances. The fight is in Cambosis's backyard in Australia.

There will be tens of thousands of fans cheering for Cambosis. And Haney, of course, will not have his trainer in his corner for that fight. His father, Bill, not there. Ben Davison, his assistant trainer not there. So he's going in a little bit handicapped for this fight. But I still like Devin Haney. I think Devin Haney has pound for pound talent. And as good as Cambosus looked against Teofima Lopez last year,

we have only seen him look that good once. So if Devin Haney stays within himself, I believe Devin Haney is going to win this fight. So take Devin Haney to win, and Devin Haney, by decision. He's only plus 100 to win by decision. But I think that is the safest bet. Devin is not a big puncher,

and I don't believe that Cambosis, after going the distance against Lopez is going to get stopped by Devin Haney. So my picks this week, Haney, by decision, the new undisputed lightweight championship. Those are this week's pick brought to you by Fandul.

That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to DeZones Akken Barak to Stephen Fulton, to George Cambosis for joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you download podcasts. And I'll see you next week.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to the Cliford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.